This publication examines desertification as a cause of global conflict and instability and calls for urgent action to support communities in crisis. It argues that the effects of desertification are increasingly felt globally as victims turn into refugees, internally displaced people and forced migrants or they turn to radicalisation, extremism or resource-driven wars for survival. It states that more should be done to combat desertification, reverse land degradation and mitigate the effects of drought as more small-scale farmers and poor, land-dependent communities are threatened.